Katana raises $11M Collection A to be the SaaS powering ‘manufacturing entrepreneurs’ – TechCrunch

Katana, an Estonian startup that has constructed manufacturing-specific enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) software program for SMBs, has raised $11 million in Collection A funding.

Main the spherical is European enterprise capital agency Atomico, with participation from angel traders Ott Kaukver (Checkout.com CTO), Sten Tamkivi (CPO Topia, previously Skype), Sergei Anikin (CTO, Pipedrive) and Kairi Pauskar (former TransferWise HR Architect). Earlier backer 42Cap additionally adopted on, bringing the entire funding raised by the corporate thus far to $16 million.

Based in 2017 by Kristjan Vilosius (CEO), Priit Kaasik (engineering lead) and Hannes Kert (CCO), Katana positions itself because the “entrepreneur producer’s secret weapon” with a plug-and-play ERP for small to medium-sized producers. The thought is to wean firms off present antiquated instruments akin to spreadsheets and legacy software program to handle stock and manufacturing. The startup can also be enjoying into macro developments, akin to the arrival of on-line marketplaces and D2C e-commerce, which can be leading to an explosion of impartial makers, spanning cosmetics to residence décor, electronics to attire, and meals and drinks.

“We’re seeing a world renaissance of small manufacturing pushed by the rise of e-commerce instruments and shopper demand for bespoke merchandise produced domestically,” says Vilosius. “Simply stroll round any large metropolis from London to San Francisco, and also you’ll see workshops throughout you. Somebody’s making natural cosmetics right here; over there, somebody is making electrical bikes. These firms are run by passionate entrepreneurs promoting by conventional channels, but additionally promoting by direct-to-consumer channels, e-commerce shops and marketplaces, and many others. This can be a huge increase of makers desirous to create merchandise and promote them globally, and it isn’t a development that may disappear tomorrow”.

The issue, nevertheless, is that small and medium-sized producers don’t have the appropriate software program to help workflows essential to promote by a number of channels — and that is the place Katana is available in. The plug-and-play software program claims a superior UX designed particularly to energy boutique manufacturing, together with performance supporting the workflows of recent producers, i.e. stock management and optimization, and buying supplies, managing bill-of-materials, monitoring prices and extra. It additionally provides an API and integrations with common e-commerce gross sales channels and accounting instruments akin to Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, QuickBooks, Xero and others.

“We’ve got constructed the world’s most self on-board-able manufacturing ERP, and that’s a vital differentiation between us and rivals,” explains Vilosius. “Implementation is so easy that greater than half of Katana’s customers self-onboard. It takes lower than every week on common to get Katana up and operating, in comparison with months for rivals”.

For instance of how an organization would possibly use Katana, think about a boutique producer utilizing Shopify as their foremost gross sales channel. As soon as configured, Katana pulls in orders from Shopify and is aware of whether or not or not the product is accessible so it may be shipped instantly. If it’s unavailable, Katana shows if the required uncooked supplies wanted to fabricate are in inventory and by when the product might be completed. “We deal with your entire course of from getting the uncooked supplies within the warehouse to planning manufacturing actions, executing and transport when the product is finished,” says Vilosius.

Cue assertion from Atomico companion Ben Blume, who joins the Katana board: “Atomico has all the time believed within the power of Estonian-built engineering and product, and as we obtained to know the staff at Katana, we noticed a well-known sample: a relentlessly product-focussed staff with the unimaginable capacity to construct and assume from their buyer’s perspective, and an unwavering perception {that a} new technology of producers with large concepts shouldn’t need to accept lower than world-class know-how to help them.”